


It’s the Zombie Apocalypse!

by tuuli



Category: Hikaru no Go
Genre: Gen, horror but not always that scary, humor but not always that funny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:08:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24791353
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tuuli/pseuds/tuuli
Summary: Touya Akira's peaceful evening is cut short as a zombie apocalypse hits Tokyo. The worst part of it? Shindou Hikaru is among the first victims. Touya is now stuck with Shindou's ghost, who is determined to save him from the zombies. Whether they manage to do that (and save the world in the process) remains to be seen. One thing is sure: they could not have imagined the reason behind the zombie infection - or the role the Go Association has in fighting it.(do i suck with titles? yes.)
Comments: 25
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I was going through my old WIPs on my computer and found this one. And when I say old, I mean old – I apparently started writing this in 2013. I had forgotten the whole thing, but now that I read the beginning I was suddenly inspired to continue, so here we go!
> 
> This started off as something of a joke… Back then the Hikaru no Go community on Dreamwidth was still alive, and people were playing Let’s Five on Hikago day. Chagrined asked who would be the five characters who definitely survived the zombie apocalypse. Juin posted a reply – and then Jim took that reply even further, and I was attacked by a rapid plotbunny. I posted this first chapter (in two parts) there back then, some of you might remember it. Or not. Here it’s again, very slightly edited. I’ll try to post the following chapters once a week. 
> 
> If you want to read Juin’s and Jim’s replies, [go here](https://hikarunogo.dreamwidth.org/82168.html?thread=849656#cmt849656). Be warned though, there’ll be spoilers for the fic. ^~ I’ll tell you when we’re far enough in the story if you want to avoid the spoilers.

Touya Akira was exhausted. It had been a long day. His game had been long and tricky, and it had taken all his skill to win it. As he hadn’t thought it would take that long, he had agreed to give Amano an interview after the game. It had been quite late by the time he’d finally reached home, and he was looking forward to a quiet evening spent all by himself.

His parents were again in Korea, but luckily his mother had prepared him a big enough storage of frozen foods to last through the week. He grasped something without even bothering to check what it was and put it in the microwave. A quick dinner, and then bed.

He leaned against the kitchen table, head nodding, waiting for the peep of the microwave to tell him his food was ready. Once it came, he opened the micro, took out his food – mmm, whatever it was, it smelled delicious – and took one step toward the table.

“Touya!” a voice exclaimed behind his back. “You’re alive! Thank god I’m in time!”

He yelped. The plate fell from his hand, crashing on the floor. The food spread across the carpet.

“Shindou! What… where did you come from?!” He looked down at the mess that was left of his dinner and swore. He was tired and did not want any further complications, Shindou-related or not. Especially _not_ Shindou-related, on a closer thought. Those tended to be the most maddening complications ever. “Look at that mess! What do you mean jumping on me like that – how did you get in, in the first place?”

“Through the door,” Shindou said. “And I mean that literally. Look, forget your food, you’ve got bigger problems.” He shot a nervous glance over his shoulder, as if he was afraid someone was about to jump on _him_. “Like not turning into food yourself,” he muttered then, turning back to Touya.

Touya looked at him, long and hard, trying to figure out if his rival had finally lost his mind completely. “I just don’t get you at times,” he said then, and turned to get a rag to try to clean up the mess. He hoped the carpet wouldn’t stain. “Why did you think I might be dead?”

“Well, I hoped you wouldn’t be, yet, but you see… _I_ am.”

It took a moment for the sentence registered in Touya’s brain. Long day, after all. “What?” Kneeling on the floor, trying to see if there was food under the table, he shot his rival a glare. “Is that supposed to be funny?”

“Nope.” Shindou gave him a tight-lipped, very un-Shindou-like smile that made him feel cold. “I’m dead serious. …bad pun, sorry.”

“Look, Shindou,” Touya started to say, but right then Shindou walked through the kitchen table.

“There’s a bit under that chair,” Shindou said helpfully, having bent down to look under the table. It was a very peculiar sight, the way his head and feet were under the table, his back visible above it. “Look, there.” He pointed. “If you now must insist on cleaning in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.”

“I… I, what… you…” Touya spluttered, staring at him with wide eyes. Shindou gave him another cold smile under the table. “In the midst of _what_!?” Touya finally managed to get out.

“Zombie apocalypse.” Shindou was standing straight again, but still in the middle of the table. “It looks pretty bad out there. And doesn’t just look – it _is_ bad. After all, they got me too,” he added darkly.

“They, you, they…” Touya still wasn’t getting his brain to function properly. He backed away slowly and leaned heavily against the sink as he hit it, wide eyes still fixed on his rival. He turned abruptly away, fumbled the tap on and sprinkled cold water on his face. Then he leaned against the sink, breathing heavily eyes closed, trying to compose himself. When he finally thought he might be able to face whatever it was that was happening, he turned back to Shindou. Who was still standing in the middle of the table.

He closed his eyes again. “Please don’t do that,” he muttered. “It makes me dizzy.” When he opened his eyes he saw to his relief that Shindou had moved and didn’t currently break any laws of physics.

Shindou frowned at him as he said nothing, just kept on staring. “Look, Touya, _try_ to get a grip, okay? I know this is a lot…”

The sentence was cut short as Touya moved forward and carefully patted his chest with his hand. Or attempted to, anyway – his hand went straight through the chest. “It… tingles a little,” Touya said wonderingly, watching with a tilted head how his hand disappeared into Shindou’s chest. “This is very… peculiar…” Suddenly his eyes widened and he pulled quickly his hand back. “Shindou! You’re… _dead_?!”

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Shindou exclaimed, waving his arms in exasperation. “How slow can you be!”

“But if you’re dead,” Touya wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying, the gravity of the situation suddenly dawning on him, “then how… how can you be my rival anymore!”

Shindou paused. “Yeah, I know,” he said. “This sucks, doesn’t it? But still, unless _you_ ,” he pointed a finger at Touya, “wish to share my condition, you’d better get a grip, _now_.”

Touya was silent. “You know,” he said then thoughtfully, “if I _did_ share your condition, then we could…” he paused and shook his head, as Shindou gave him an incredulous look. “I’m sorry. I’m not thinking clearly.”

“That much is obvious,” Shindou snorted. “Look, you’ve got a TV? What am I saying, of course you’ve got, I’ve watched it probably more than you. Turn it on. There might be something on the news.”

Sure enough, there was an extra newscast on, showing footage of what seemed to be a nice, quiet neighborhood in a better part of Tokyo. Now, half the houses were burning, on the streets limped ragged, bloody creatures, and in the background they could hear screams that were enough to make Touya’s blood turn cold, distant though they were.

“What…” He stared at the television, not believing his eyes.

“It’s the zombie apocalypse,” Shindou said grimly.

…

“Are you sure this is wise?” Touya whispered to Shindou. “It might have been safer to stay home – I’ve plenty of food, and they said in the news no one should venture out on the streets.”

“I am sure! Just follow me and be quiet!”

Shindou was creeping through the streets quiet as a… well, quiet as a ghost. Touya followed him as silently as he could. On his back he had his backpack, filled with canned food, a couple of water bottles, flashlight and batteries for it, and some warm clothing. Plus a few of their sharpest kitchen knifes. The biggest he had in his hand.

“Shindou!” he hissed. “We can still go back! They said they’re arranging evacuation…”

“Shh!” Shindou shot him a glare over his shoulder. “It’s really bad, and really close to your place – I know! I passed them on my way here, and there were _hordes_ of zombies moving into your direction! They’re slow, but they’re coming. You can’t be sitting there, waiting for someone to rescue you!”

“But where are we going to?”

“I don’t know yet! For now, away from here. This has to be one of the worst areas.”

“If this is one of the worst areas,” Touya muttered to himself, “I’m really not sure if I want to be running around here on my own.”

“Don’t whine, you’re not on your own,” Shindou snapped. Apparently death had given him very keen hearing. “I’m here!”

“And what can you do if they attack us? Attack _me_ , that is!”

“Maybe I can’t fight, but I can steer you to safety, past the zombies! I don’t know, maybe it’s because they’re kind of dead too, but I can sort of smell them. And they do smell bad, believe me. So just shut up and follow me, I’ll keep you safe!”

“That’d be more reassuring if it didn’t come from someone who’s been _killed by the zombies_!”

Touya regretted it the moment he said it, and even more so as he saw the wide-eyed, hurt look on Shindou’s face as his guide looked behind. “Okay, sorry, I didn’t… shouldn’t have said that,” he muttered. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

Shindou walked on, shoulders tight, not looking at him anymore. A moment he followed in silence. Then, “Was it bad?” he asked quietly, hesitantly, wondering if he wanted to know.

For a moment Shindou said nothing. “Dying, not so,” he finally answered. “What happened before…” He paused, swallowed. Still didn’t look at Touya. “I was at my parents’, and I heard dad coming home, and I saw them in the living room and first I thought they were making out or something which was kinda funny cause they never do something like that when I’m around, but then I saw mom was all bloody and then they came at me, and I ran… I ran upstairs, and I know, I _know_ , that was a bad move but there was nowhere else I could go and they came after me and I had nowhere to escape but out of the window to the porch roof and I think I broke my neck or something when I fell. Didn’t feel a thing.” He paused. “It was kind of traumatic, though, so I’d rather not talk about it more, okay.”

“O…kay,” Touya breathed, stunned. He grasped the knife in his hand harder. A while they walked in silence. Then he finally released the breath he had been holding. “Shindou… I’m sorry,” he said to his dead rival’s back. “It was very insensitive of me to ask you that.”

Shindou snorted. “Insensitive’s just the word to describe you, Waya would—” he started to say, before spinning around on his heels. “Duck!” he screamed and threw himself toward Touya. Their bodies connected, hard, and air escaped from Touya’s lungs as he hit the concrete. Something jumped down from a balcony, flying just over them.

“Up up up!” Shindou was yelling, standing between him and the creature. “ _Get_ _up!_ ”

Touya scrambled on his feet, still gasping for air. Miraculously the knife hadn’t slipped from his hand as he fell. He grasped it harder, looked at the creature that had turned to face him, and froze.

“Okay,” Shindou said. “Hit the head. Got it? You gotta destroy its brain, that’s the only way to kill zombies. Got it? Touya!” He turned to his companion and grimaced as he saw the expression on his face. “Snap out of it! You don’t have time for this now! It’s coming!”

And the zombie _was_ coming. Empty eyes bulging, mouth hanging wide open, face covered in blood it scrambled toward him, incomprehensible wailing coming from its mouth. It might have once been a pretty woman, but now… _how?!_ a functioning part of Touya’s brain pondered feverishly, _how could a face become so distorted so soon?_ It couldn’t have been long since this woman had died.

Once it was almost close enough to grasp him, he raised his knife and, closing his eyes, struck blindly ahead. He could feel the knife hit something, there came a strange, gurgling sound, and suddenly it was so close to him he could smell it, the stale, rotting smell of death. He gagged, opened his eyes just in time to see the zombie fall backward, the knife protruding from its left eye.

He stared at it as it lay on the ground, unbelieving.

“Get the knife,” Shindou said, and he looked up at the dead boy.

“What?”

“Get the _knife_! We need to get going. Where there’s one zombie, there’s more.”

“But…” Touya looked again down at the zombie. “But it’s… it’s in that thing’s eye...”

“So? It will come of easily. Get it already, we have to move!”

Touya stood still. “Why don’t you get it?”

“Cause I can’t touch it, idiot!”

“You just touched me!”

“Yeah.” Shindou paused for a moment, thoughtful. “Something like that can sometimes happen, between a ghost and the one he haunts. I… haven’t quite figured it out yet. But get the bloody knife already!”

“Bloody…” Touya muttered, eyes bulging almost as badly as the zombie’s had.

Shindou cursed under his breath, watching grimly as he bent down by the corpse and gingerly touched the knife. “You don’t _deserve_ to survive a zombie apocalypse,” Shindou stated dryly as he closed his eyes to draw out the knife.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit shorter, but I ended up dividing the next one into two, cause I wanted to have something up now (going to mökki for the rest of the week, where I'll just be reading by the lake shore and probably not writing much at all, and the internet there is sucky too, so. Better get this done now.)

**Chapter 2  
**

After the incident with the zombie woman the two boys, one dead, one alive, continued their way briskly, neither of them wanting to linger at the place any longer than was absolutely necessary. Touya followed Shindou meekly, dreading to make any noise and keenly listening to the slightest sound of possible danger.

It took a long while before he risked talking. "Shindou?" he whispered. "Have you decided where we should go?"

"Yeah," the other boy said aloud, not bothering to whisper. Briefly Touya wondered if he even needed to whisper – would anybody else even be able to hear the ghost but him? "We should find a mall, or some place that sells firearms."

"Firearms?" Touya paused. "Wait, guns? Do you know how to use them?"

"It can't be that hard," Shindou said lightly. "We'll figure it out."

Touya sighed, shaking his head. "We'll figure it out," he muttered. "Do you know any place that sells them? Cause I don't."

"Well, no… but. Guns would be good. Real big ones, that is, big enough to blow their heads off." Shindou hadn't stopped when he did, and Touya had to run after him.

" _What_ kind of zombie movies have you been watching?" he muttered, but either the ghost didn't hear him or just chose to ignore him.

"At the very least we should find some other people. It'd be safer in a group."

"It's awfully quiet here," Touya remarked, eyeing the houses they were passing. They were all dark, and there was no movement anywhere. "Do you think people are hiding inside, or have they left?"

"Most have left, probably. There aren't really many cars here, either… Cars." Shindou stopped and eyed a lonely yellow car with a thoughtful look on his face.

"For your information, I can't drive. And _yes_ , I'm sure we _could_ figure it out, too – but how are you going to get a car started without a key?"

"We could hot-wire it."

"And you know how to do that?" Touya asked a little incredulously (but just a little – this was Shindou, after all.)

A long moment passed. "No," Shindou finally admitted. "I could try but it'd probably explode or something."

"So we'd better just walk on."

"Yeah." Shindou gave the car one final, sad look. "Let's go."

He started walking again, and Touya took one step to follow him when something suddenly dawned to him. "Shindou!"

Shindou looked at him over his shoulder. "What?"

Touya had stopped and was digging in his bag. "I'm sure it's in here," he muttered.

"What?" Shindou repeated.

"My cell phone! You know how I hate all those stupid TV shows in which all problems would be solved if the characters just made one phone call, but no, they… ah, there it is!" He took out his phone and grimaced at it.

"Let me guess, the battery's dead?"

"No…" Touya turned the phone so that Shindou could see the screen.

_26 calls_

"I guess I forgot it on silent mode after the game," Touya muttered. He grimaced again. "Mother has tried to call me nine times. I have to call her right away…"

"Nine times?" Shindou asked. "So who else has been calling you?"

Touya paused. Frowned. "Ogata. There's 17 calls from him…"

"Wow. Isn't he worried about you," Shindou stated. Touya didn't listen to him. He pushed a few buttons and raised the phone to his ear. After waiting a moment he glanced at the screen, frowning.

"Nothing's happening."

"I could have told you that," Shindou said with a sigh. "The cell phones are the first to go in a catastrophe like this. Bit of a wonder they'd managed to reach your phone that many times…"

"And I missed them." Touya sounded seriously annoyed. "I wonder if an SMS would go through…"

Shindou rolled his eyes. "Okay, we seriously don't have time for that. Start moving." Without waiting for a response he started walking on, and Touya hurried after him.

"I hope you've got some kind of an idea where you're going," he muttered after a while, watching worriedly his companion's back. "Shindou? We're not walking in circles again, are we? I don't know this area that well…"

"Of course we're not! Don't be stupid." Shindou's voice was sharp and edgy. "Just walk on." He glanced over his shoulder, nervously. "We…"

A scream cut him off. Touya froze, breath stuck in his throat. The scream went on and on until suddenly it cut off. In the silence he could hear his ears humming, and he was sure his heart had skipped a beat. Or a few.

"Wha…" he breathed. Shindou was watching up at the sky, a strange look on his face.

"Let's move," he said tersely. "Fast."

"But…" Touya glanced over his shoulder toward the direction of the scream. "Shouldn't we… I mean… they might need… help…"

Shindou snorted. "When someone screams like that, they're beyond all help. And so will you soon be, if you don't start moving." His eyes widened a little, and he stared somewhere into the distance. "Move!" he suddenly yelled and started running. Touya followed him without a second thought.

"What… what is it?" he panted as they ran.

"They're many and they're close," Shindou said. He didn't sound out of breath at all. Pros of death, Touya thought to himself, and winced a bit at the thought.

They ran on through the empty streets. Touya could have sworn he _felt_ them now behind him, something that turned the air chilly and made the hair in his neck stand up, though he told himself it had to be just his imagination. Certainly those clumsy creatures couldn't run so fast, or so silently he wouldn't hear them. He didn't stop to look back though.

"Damn!" Shindou stopped suddenly, glanced frantically ahead.

"Wh-what?" he breathed, thankful for the break but terrified of the potential reason behind it.

"Nothing, nothing, we…" Shindou made a move as if to turn back, but stopped and cursed again.

"Please don't tell me," Touya said, fighting to catch his breath, "that they're surrounding us."

Shindou was glancing this way and that, turning around like a weather cock in a storm. "You want me to lie?" he muttered.

"Damn." Touya pushed the phone he had still been grasping into his pocket and took a better hold of his knife. "So. What's the plan?"

"I'm working on it," Shindou snapped, eyeing the buildings around them. "See if you can get in there," he said, pointing toward a door, "and…"

The door in question opened. Something shuffled out of it – _three_ somethings, in fact.

Touya swallowed, fingering the knife. He rushed to another door, but that one, leading to a small store, was locked. Glancing over his shoulder he saw that they indeed had been pursued, by… in fact, he did not care to count by how many zombies. From the way Shindou kept on glancing back and forth, a wild look in his eyes, he concluded the situation wasn't much better in the other direction, and sure enough, right then more zombies appeared at the other end of the street.

"Shindou!" he hissed, grasping his knife tightly as the three zombies closest to them advanced. "What do I _do_?" He did his best not to look too closely at the zombies, two men and an old woman – he assumed – but he couldn't help smelling them.

"Umm…" Shindou spun around once more, eyes darting here and there, "you, that is… _duck_!" he suddenly screamed, and Touya, whose reflexes now thankfully worked better than before, ducked.

Deafening noise erupted above him and he pushed his hands on his ears without even noticing he'd let go of the knife. "Gaaaah! Shindou! What's going on!? _Aaaaaa_ —" he shrieked, curling down on the street, but paused mid-shriek when he saw the three zombies lying on the ground, unmoving – well, the old woman's leg was still twitching a little.

Someone jumped from the roof to the awning of the store he'd tried to enter and rolled from it to the ground. One swift movement sent an empty magazine flying, and this person – a _she_ , Touya noted in wonder – was back on her feet, now emptying the reloaded gun at the zombies that had been pursuing them. When they were down she spun around, ready to fire at the other direction, just in time to see the last zombie there disappear behind a corner.

"Funny," she said, reloading again. "Usually they aren't smart enough to fly even when they see their comrades slaughtered."

"A-ha," Touya said brightly, gathering himself up from the ground, eyes still quite wide.

Still not as wide as Shindou's. "Nase," the ghost breathed.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cause Nase is awesome. (If you've just seen the anime you might not know why, but she is.)


	3. Chapter 3

_Nase_ , Shindou breathed.

"Nase…?" Touya repeated, confused.

"Wow, do you really remember me?" The girl grinned at him. "But no time for that now," she went on before Touya could say anything (not that he would have known what to say). She took out of her pocket a chunky cell phone and made a call, completely unaware of Shindou who was alternatively staring at the unmoving zombies and the gun in her other hand.

_Wow. Touya. Did you_ see _that? Just, wow. Where'd she learn to do that!?_

Touya just shook his head, still speechless.

"I found him!" Nase was saying into the phone. "Yes, seems to be. Okay, yeah. We're coming!" She ended the call and nodded to Touya. "C'mon, we need to go now."

"Why does your phone work and mine not?" he asked as he ran after her, trying to ignore Shindou who was telling him to tell Nase how awesome she had been and ask her where she had learned to fight like that.

"A satellite phone," she grinned at him. "I really can rec those!"

"Where did you… no, where are we going to?" he went on, trying to get his questions into some kind of an order of importance.

"Not far!" Nase replied. "He should be – ah, there!"

She pointed, and Touya paused, blinking, as a familiar red car rolled into view. "Ogata?"

It was indeed the man himself in his white suit driving the car. Nase and Touya rushed in to the backseat, and he sped away, wheels screeching.

"Umm," Touya said. Shindou had sat on the front seat, but neither of the others seemed to notice him. For now he decided to ignore that fact. "I, that is… you, why are you here?" he finally got out.

Ogata shot him a glare via the rear mirror. "That's my question. Why did you leave your home?"

Touya in his turn shot a glare at the back of Shindou's seat, but then Nase put in, "It's probably a good thing he did. From the looks of it, we would have been too late."

Ogata made a grumbling sound that might have been agreeing. "Well, perhaps. But you could at least answer your damn phone!" Another glare. It was a miracle, Touya thought to himself, that the mirror didn't shatter.

"I'm sorry. I forgot it on silent mode. I'm sorry."

"Well, all's fine now," Ogata said with a deep sigh. "At least we found you in time."

"Yeah." Touya was glancing from him to Nase and back, in growing confusion. " _How_ …" he started, but hesitated "Or, maybe rather _why_ … that is, what, or when…"

_Make up your mind already_ , Shindou said dryly from the front seat. Touya frowned at him.

"You be quiet," he muttered.

"What?" Nase and Ogata said at the same time, glancing at him.

"Oh, nothing, I…" He paused, wondering if he should or should not tell them about Shindou. Why didn't _they_ see him?

Was he going crazy or something?

"Oh, _that's_ it!" he said, face brightening.

"What?" Nase and Ogata repeated.

"I'm dreaming," he declared with great relief. "Of course! That's the only sensible explanation! I was so tired when I came home, I must have fallen asleep by the kitchen table!"

He pinched his arm. It hurt a little. Nothing happened. He pinched again, harder, but in vain. "Shouldn't I wake up or something?" he muttered.

Nase was watching him sympathetically. "I'm sorry, Touya-san," she said. "That won't work. I know. I tried."

"This is no dream," Ogata said. "I wish it were. But as it is, we're facing a real zombie war. It's…"

While he was talking Shindou had frozen stiff for a moment. Then he pointed ahead. _Zombies! Touya, hordes of them! Warn them!_

"Ogata-san!" Touya started. "There are…!"

"Oh?" The man looked ahead. Now they all could see the zombies that were gathering all over the street, facing them. "Don't worry." He stepped on the gas.

_Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!_ Shindou shrieked. Touya was about to do the same, but closed his eyes tightly and bit his mouth shut, refusing to scream like a girl in Ogata's presence. More to the point, refusing to scream like a girl in the presence of a girl who _wasn't_ screaming. He could still feel the car accelerating when it hit something soft. There was another bump, and another, and screaming and gurgling and some screeching, and other sounds Touya didn't want to think too closely. The car swerved from side to side, and he got the impression Ogata was trying to shake something off.

Then it was quiet again, and they drove on smoothly.

He opened carefully his eyes. The windscreen wipers were still on, wiping away pink frothy washer fluid and some… other… stuff… that Touya again decided not to think about.

_I think I'm going to be sick_ , came Shindou's voice weakly from the front seat. _Or rather, I wish I could._

"I hope they didn't scratch the paint," Ogata said. Touya could hear the disapproving frown in his voice. "I paid a lot for this car, I don't want some dirty zombies wrecking it."

Touya said nothing, mainly because he didn't trust his voice.

They drove on in silence. From where he was sitting Touya couldn't see Shindou, and now the other boy was more quiet he had ever been in his life – or death – so that he couldn't help wondering if his ghostly companion wasn't just his imagination. He thought of taking a peek at the front seat, but didn't move, still too stunned – and not quite wanting to know the truth.

After a while he became aware of how Nase kept on glancing at him from the corner of her eye. When she noticed he had noticed she looked quickly away, staring in awkward silence out of the window, hands fingering the hem of her shirt. Touya wished he could remember who she was – Shindou's friend? A go player? Probably. Possibly pretty good, if she thought he might have recognized her. Not a pro, though, he was sure of that.

He opened his mouth to ask, but right then happened to notice how Ogata was watching him through the mirror. When their eyes met, the man too looked quickly away.

Touya glanced at Nase who was stubbornly staring out of the window, then looked at Ogata, whose eyes were fixed on the street – perfectly proper for a driver, but he had enough experience of being a passenger in Ogata's car to know that this was unprecedented behavior.

He sighed. "What is it?"

Both Ogata and Nase gave him a quick glance. The man cleared his throat. "There is… something I need to tell you, but… it might be best to wait until we're out of the car."

"Oh?" he asked, but Ogata said no more. Nase was again staring out of the window, her hands now clutching her shirt, tight. He sighed again. "Okay, if you say so. Where are we going to?"

Ogata smirked a little. "You'll see soon."

_Hey, I know these hoods_ , came Shindou's voice from the front seat, and he felt a surprisingly strong pang of relief. Perhaps he _was_ crazy, but the way things were proceeding, that was not a bad thing.

For the first time he too took a proper look out, and frowned. "Huh? Are we... are we going to…?"

_To the Ki'in_ , Shindou finished for him.

"Why?" Touya exclaimed. "Shouldn't we rather, I don't know, go somewhere else? _Anywhere_ else?"

Ogata just kept on smirking and drove on. Soon it became obvious that he really was heading to the Go Association. He drove into the parking hall and promptly got out of the car, heading to the elevator without stopping to wait for the others.

"You still haven't told me why we came here," Touya said as he hurried after him. The elevator doors opened and they stepped in. "Shouldn't we go somewhere safe?"

"That's exactly what we're doing," Ogata said, that eternal smirk on his face. To his annoyance Touya noticed a similar expression tugging Nase's lips. He glanced at Shindou (who, thank god, still was there and hadn't faded away like a dream). The other boy was looking quite annoyed too, which he found relieving. At least he wasn't the only one who didn't understand what was going on.

"I think," he started, but Ogata had taken out a small key and opened a panel in the elevator wall, revealing a hidden button. Touya blinked at it. "What?" he said as Ogata pushed it. The elevator jerked to move – downward. "What?" Touya repeated.

No one said anything. The ride down was a long one, but finally the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. Ogata walked out, followed by Nase. Outside he stopped to look at Touya who was still standing in the elevator, his mouth half open.

"Welcome," the man said with an inviting wave of his hand, "to Ki'in's Secret Research Division."

Touya just stared.

_Cool_ , Shindou said, and stepped out of the elevator.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"What is this place?" Touya breathed, as he finally left the elevator.

"A government supported research facility created exactly in case of a crisis like this," Ogata replied.

"But, why?" Touya asked, eyes scanning the hall filled with computers and other machinery the purpose of which he didn't quite understand. "I mean, why _here_ , under the Ki'in? And why…" he paused, realizing that most of the people in the room were familiar to him, "why are there only go players here?"

"We do have some other personnel too, of course," Ogata said as he started walking through the hall. "But, let me ask you, why not? You know yourself what a demanding game go is. The mind of a go player is a sharp thing indeed, well suited for strategic thinking and…"

His little speech was cut off by an enthusiastic "Akira-kun!" Turning to look Touya saw a young man approaching them, a huge pile of papers in his arms.

"Hello, Ashiwara-san," he said, and couldn't help but return the man's smile. "Good to see you're okay."

"That's my phrase!" Ashiwara exclaimed, patting him on the shoulder and nearly dropping the papers in the process. "You can't know how worried we've been! Especially after what happened to S—"

"Don't you have work to do?" Ogata cut him off sharply.

Ashiwara fell quiet, glanced at the papers that were almost slipping from his hands and adjusted his hold of them. "Yes, yes, of course." He shot yet one smile at Touya and headed off.

Touya gave Ogata a sideward look. "What were you saying about the mind of a go player?" he asked innocently.

Ogata grunted and adjusted his glasses. "Never mind that. The point is, we're working here to find a solution to this zombie infection. We'll be happy to have your help."

"Of course, but…" Touya shook his head, as if attempting to get his thoughts in to order. "This is so weird. Has this place _always_ been here? I guess it must have been, it's too big you could have built it this quickly. Why didn't I know anything?" he added a little sourly.

"Your father wanted you to concentrate wholly on your career. We were hoping you'd never need to get involved with this."

"So my father knows about this?" He probably shouldn't have been surprised about this, but he was.

"Of course. He's the director. It's too bad all this had to happen right now, when he is out of the country. But that reminds me, first things first. Come."

 _Touya!_ Only when Shindou appeared by his side he realized the other boy had been gone for a while. _This is so_ cool _! You wouldn't_ believe _what those guys are doing back there!_

"There's much of this I wouldn't believe," Touya muttered.

Ogata led him to the radio room. "Contact the Korea Baduk Association," he told the man there. "Ask for Touya Meijin."

"You mean father's there?" Touya asked with immense relief. "And mother? They are okay?"

"Yes," Ogata nodded. "They're both fine. So far this zombie infection hasn't spread outside Japan."

"So is it only…" Touya started to ask, but right then he heard his father's voice on the radio and the sound of it brought tears to his eyes, and all questions were for the moment forgotten.

.

After Touya had finished the somewhat over-emotional call with his parents, Ogata started leading him somewhere else, more suitable for a private discussion, as he put it, but a commotion at the elevator door stopped them.

"C'mon, it's just a scratch!" they heard an annoyed voice exclaiming. "No one _bit_ me or anything!"

"We still need to check it in case of infection, Waya, you know that," another voice said, and Shindou gave a start. He rushed to the elevator ahead of the others.

_Waya! Isumi!_

Waya looked over his shoulder toward them and for one hopeful moment Touya thought he too saw Shindou, but the boy looked past the ghost, frowning a little seeing him and Ogata.

"So Nase really did find him," he said a bit grumpily, unaware of the keen attention the machete he was carrying on his back was getting from a blond-banged ghost.

Ogata nodded. "What's the matter with you?"

"Just a scratch!" Waya exclaimed in a defensive tone. "It's seriously not such a big deal!"

 _That's so cool,_ Shindou said, running a finger on the machete. _Hey, Waya, why would anyone give you something like that? That's begging for an accident! Did you cut yourself with it?_

Touya couldn't help snorting a bit at that, which earned him an angry glare from Waya, whose left hand was currently under Ogata's close scrutiny.

"I just stumbled, okay? Cut it on a sharp stone on the ground."

"But there were zombies nearby?" Ogata asked, giving him a sharp look.

"Yeah." Isumi nodded. "We'd just got the orders to return here when a group of four attacked us. I think Waya slipped on the blood."

"Better have it disinfected," Ogata stated. Waya attempted to say something, but the man didn't give him a chance. "You know the drill, Waya-kun."

The boy sighed. "Yes sir," he muttered.

"Actually," Ogata said, turning to Touya, "you could come with us. I'll show you the laboratory and the hospital section."

 _I find it kinda hard picturing Isumi-san fighting zombies_ , Shindou said looking after Isumi who went to take the weapons away while the rest of them followed Ogata. _Then again_ , he went on thoughtfully, _it's not quite as hard as picturing_ you _fighting zombies, and I've seen that. …if it now can be called fighting._

 _Who asked for your opinion_ , Touya thought, annoyed, and Shindou gave him a crooked smile.

_You get it without asking._

_You…_ Touya started, but paused, blinking. _You can read my thoughts?_ he asked carefully.

Shindou nodded, and he grimaced. _Why? I mean, of course it's handy, but…_

 _Don't worry, I promise not to eavesdrop_ , Shindou said lightly. _Much._

Touya glared at him. _You'd better stay out of my head when we play._

 _Of course!_ Shindou's incorporeal voice had an offended tone. _What did you think?_

"Here we are," Ogata said and opened a door. "The laboratory. That," he pointed to a door which had a red sign on it, "is a restricted area. You've no business there, but if you some day must enter, you must wear a protective suit. It's…"

"Akira-kun!" a delighted voice called, once again cutting Ogata short. Touya had barely time to turn to look before he was glomped into a tight hug. "I'm so happy you're safe!"

"I'm… happy to see you too, Ichikawa-san," Touya managed to get out. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just… helping here and there," the woman replied, wiping her eyes and finally letting go off him. "It's not like I were of much use, but I do what I can. But thank god you're here now! You can't believe how worried I've been! It's so awful!" Teardrops appeared again in her eyes. "Poor Sh…"

"Would you disinfect Waya-kun's wound, Ichikawa-san?" Ogata cut her off.

"It's not a wound, just a scratch," Waya said, but he was ignored. Ichikawa whisked him away, and when he returned, his whole hand was wrapped up. "This is so exaggerated," he muttered.

"So this is where we're working to find out an antidote against the zombie infection," Ogata finished the tour of the laboratory he'd been giving to Touya, paying no attention to Waya's grumbling. "Ah, you know Masuda 5-dan, don't you?" He nodded to a man who had just entered the laboratory. "You know he has a Ph.D. in biochemistry?"

Touya and Masuda exchanged polite though quick greetings, as the man clearly was in a hurry.

"I think I should show you next our most important…" Ogata started, but he was interrupted once again, this time by Waya.

"Shouldn't you finally tell him?" the boy said grumpily.

"Tell me what?" Touya asked curiously.

Ogata and Waya shared a look. "He'll find out sooner or later, anyway," Waya said. "Better not to hide it."

"Hide what?" Touya asked. Ogata sighed.

"I guess you're right," he muttered. "Come here." He led Touya to small room and gestured to him to sit down. A moment he just stood there in front of the boy, fingering his eyeglasses in awkward silence, while Touya waited nervously.

"Okay," Ogata finally said and turned to look him in the eye. "I don't know how to tell you this gently, so I'll just say it: Shindou Hikaru is dead."

"Oh," Touya said. "That." He was strangely relieved, as he had been expecting some catastrophic news. Well, of course this _was_ something catastrophic, but it wasn't exactly news.

"What do you mean 'oh, that'?" Waya exclaimed. He'd been waiting by the door, leaning against it, but now he looked like he might strangle Touya. "Don't you even care!"

"Maybe you didn't quite understand," Ogata said. "We found his body outside his home. It seems he'd fallen from the porch roof. We were in time to make sure it would not be reanimated, but unfortunately too late to save him."

"Oh," Touya said again. Reanimated? He hadn't even thought about that possibility. He shuddered a little. "That's good. It would have been too freaky."

Waya was muttering something under his breath, but Ogata placed a calming hand on his shoulder, watching Touya worriedly. "Maybe he's in a shock," he said quietly to Waya. "A lot has happened…"

"No, I…" Touya started, but paused. What would he say? He glanced at Shindou who was standing in the corner of the room, grinning.

 _Didn't you guess what it was they wanted to tell you?_ the ghost asked. _Kind of obvious._

_You're not helping much. What should I say to them?_

Shindou shrugged. _You could cry a little._

Touya bit back a sigh and resisted the urge to roll his eyes at him. "Alright," he said, making up his mind. "The reason I'm not too shocked about this is because… I already knew. He told me. Shindou, that is," he clarified, as Ogata and Waya just stared at him as if they didn't quite understand what he was saying. "He came to warn me after he died, and he's currently standing in that corner."

Ogata opened his mouth, and closed it, for once out of words.

"Figures," Waya said, not resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "He's lost it."

 _I don't think that was a smart thing to say_ , Shindou stated flatly.

_Oh? Well, you weren't of much help here! And it sounds like too much trouble trying to hide from them that I'm… I'm haunted, or something._

_It is tricky_ , Shindou said. _But we would have managed. I've got experience in these things._

"Listen," Ogata said just when Touya was going to ask what he meant by that. "I understand this has been a great shock to you, but…"

"I've not 'lost it'," Touya cut him off. "We can prove it. Shindou? C'mon!" He glared at the ghost. "Help me out here!"

Shindou sighed. _Alright, alright…_ He thought a moment. _Tell Waya that I could easily prove to him I'm here,_ he said then, _but that would involve talking about certain events at a certain park on a hot summer day a couple of years ago. It involves water pistols, ice cream, a couple of pretty girls, and the stupidest t-shirt ever._

Waya turned an interesting shade of some previously unnamed color as Touya related Shindou's words. "Bastard!" he breathed. "Did he tell you about that?!"

"He's telling me _now_!" Touya exclaimed. "He's saying he promised not to speak about it, and he hasn't! Do I need to ask him to go on before you believe me?"

 _Waya can be kinda slow for being so smart,_ Shindou snorted. _Actually… tell him he'd better listen to you, or I'll never tell him the real reason how I knew he was Zelda!_

A little confused, Touya said this, and that previously unnamed color grew somewhat paler.

"Wait. Wait! Does he… do you mean… he _lied_ to me then?! But how, I mean…"

"And how would you prove to _me_ he's real?" Ogata asked while Waya was spluttering.

Touya glanced at Shindou. "He says that's trickier. That he doesn't know any secrets… he's just saying he always found you kind of creepy ever since the day you manhandled him to play with my father," Touya frowned a little at that. "But he didn't mind that much anymore after the game you two played at that seminar just before he stopped playing." His frown deepened. "Manhandled? And why didn't you tell me you played Ogata-san back then? Shindou, is this somehow connected to why you stopped playing?"

"That is interesting," Ogata said, "but still not quite enough. He could have spoken to you of those things before."

Touya shook his head and was about to go on arguing, when a new voice cut into the discussion by the door.

"Shindou-kun?" Nase said, her voice hesitant. She and Isumi had appeared in the doorway, and from the looks on their faces they had been listening in for a while. "What do I have in my hand?"

Shindou looked startled for a moment, but then understanding dawned to him and he went to take a peek at what Nase was carefully hiding from Touya's view.

 _A small golden pendant,_ he said and looked at Touya.

"A small golden pendant," Touya repeated, and Nase opened her hand to show it.

"It belonged to my sister," she said quietly. "She was… killed… when this started."

"Well." Ogata gave out a breath. " _That_ was pretty good proof."

"A ghost?" Isumi didn't sound convinced. "That sounds pretty… unbelievable."

"More so than zombies?" Touya asked, and no one had anything to say to that.

"Well," Ogata repeated. "There is someone whose opinion I'd like to ask about this. Not to mention I really should have you introduced. Well, reintroduced, to be exact…"

"Who is it?" Touya asked him as he started to lead the little group elsewhere.

Ogata just shook his head. "It's better to just show you. Trust me, this is just about as incredible as your ghost story."

He took them to a small room where the only furniture was a table upon which lay a large and somewhat complicated-looking set of computers.

"Hello," he said, and there was soft humming noise as a camera turned toward them.

"So he really was found," said a voice that made both Touya and Shindou start. It had a metallic tinge to it, but other than that it was quite familiar.

_Wait. Is that…_

"Ochi?" Touya asked.

"We call him Ochibot these days," Ogata answered.

"I would really prefer it if you didn't use that name, Ogata-san," Ochi's metallic voice stated a bit indignantly.

"As you wish," Ogata agreed, but his crooked smile said something different. "Anyway, as you guessed, this is Ochi. Or, to be exact, this is at the same time something more and something less than Ochi ever was."

"Wha-what?" Touya couldn't even formulate a whole question. "I don't…understand."

"Of course you don't," Ochi's voice said. "It's all quite simple. I had infiltrated those parties that are behind this zombie infection, but unfortunately I was caught and wounded mortally. Luckily my companions retrieved me in time before I died, and they managed to copy most of my brainwaves into this computer. I believe this is what Ogata-san meant when he said I'm less than before: they didn't get quite everything. But the truth is that I am now much more than a mere human could ever be. I am, in the end, the most perfect AI that has ever existed."

 _What the…!_ Shindou exclaimed. _Is he trying to claim he was a secret agent or something?_

Touya's mind had focused on something different. "The parties behind this? Do you mean someone has purposefully _started_ this?"

"Yes." Ogata watched him grimly. "Kuwabara."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, now we've reached the point there won't be any spoilers left in the thread, so [here's the link](https://hikarunogo.dreamwidth.org/82168.html?thread=849656#cmt849656) again.
> 
> ...does anybody anymore remember Ochibot...?


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry about the wait, and the short chapter. Life turned unexpectedly busy... I'll try to get the next chapter out sooner!

**Chapter 5**

After Ogata's declaration a stunned silence reigned in the room.

"Kuwabara?" Touya finally asked, his tone unbelieving. "Why would he do something like this?"

_I don't know, I think it's kind of fitting_ , Shindou pondered. _He's kinda zombie-like himself, isn't he?_

"Shindou!" Touya exclaimed. "That's an awful thing to say!"

Ochibot had already started to reply to Touya's question, but paused. "Who is he talking to?"

"That," Ogata stated, giving Touya a look, "is an interesting question. He claims to be haunted by Shindou Hikaru's ghost."

There was a long, deep silence, unbroken even by the quietest hum of machinery. "The existence of a ghost is not impossible, but it is also not very likely," Ochibot finally declared. Ogata seemed a little surprised by that assessment.

"Really? You think it's possible?"

"That is what saying it's not impossible means, doesn't it? Science has never been able to prove the existence of ghosts, but on the other, neither is there any proof they would not, or could not, exist. But, as I said, I rather doubt this would be a real case of paranormal activity. It is much more likely that Touya-san is merely in denial, unable to accept the news of his rival's death."

The word 'rival' had a somewhat bitter ring, even in the metallic voice of Ochibot.

"I learned about his death from Shindou himself," Touya pointed out. "How could I have been in denial already before anyone told me about it?"

"It did look like he already knew, when I told him about Shindou-kun," Ogata said. "Akira-kun also told Waya-kun some secrets supposedly only Shindou-kun knew, and Nase-san came up with a clever little test." He told Ochibot about the pendant.

"Interesting," Ochibot stated. "Let me conduct a test, too." A computer screen flashed on, and on it appeared a game record. "Does he know what this is?"

Shindou stared at the screen with a frown. It took him a moment, but then his face brightened for a short while before he frowned again, annoyed. _That's the first game I played against Ochi at the insei class,_ he said. Touya told this to everyone else.

"He's also asking you to put that image away," Touya added. "It seems to annoy him." He looked at the screen, and frowned as well. "No wonder, if he played white in that game."

"His skills back then were quite inadequate," Ochibot agreed. "But this is truly interesting. I don't think that anyone else would remember that game – I doubt I would have been able to recollect it back when I was alive. It was hardly significant enough for me to use the limited human memory capacity on it."

_Too bad they didn't update his_ _personality when they turned him into a machine,_ Shindou stated dryly.

_Hush,_ Touya thought to him, but couldn't stop the smile tugging the corner of his mouth.

"I've a question to Shindou, if he now is here," Waya said suddenly, and Touya almost startled; he had completely forgotten that Waya, Isumi and Nase had all followed them. "He borrowed my favorite manga _months_ ago and still hasn't returned it. Where is it?"

Touya glanced at Shindou who looked a little sheepish.

_I was going to return it, honest! It's just that I kept on forgetting, and then when I remembered I didn't have time to look for it, and then I forgot again, but it's… it's surely somewhere in my room, I think, unless I left it at grandpa's… but anyway, I'm sure it's safe, I don't think zombies care about manga, right?_

Thanks to the years of practice of keeping his expression in check during games, Touya's face was perfectly blank when he delivered this information to Waya, who wasn't quite as good in guarding his expression.

"Right," Ogata said, before Waya could get his tirade started, "zombies don't care about manga, and neither do I. We have more important things to consider here." The glint in his eye as he was watching Touya made the boy nervous. He had seen that look too many times, during a game, and knew well what it meant.

_Uh oh,_ Shindou said to his ear. _What's he up to now?_

Apparently he wasn't the only one who knew Ogata well.

"Shindou-kun," Ogata started, but paused and shot a frowning look across the room. "Akira-kun," he said then, turning back to Touya. "Where exactly is he? I'd feel like an idiot talking to someone who's in fact standing behind my back or something."

"He's right next to me," Touya said, indicating with his head to his left side.

Ogata nodded and fixed his gaze somewhere a bit left of Touya. "Shindou-kun," he started again, "First of all, I'm terribly sorry about what happened to you and your parents. We hadn't expected that anything would happen yet…"

_Nobody expects the Spanish inquisition_ , Shindou muttered and took a wide step aside, so that he wasn't anymore standing where Ogata was looking.

"…and so we moved too late. My apologies." The man actually bowed – to the wrong direction. Shindou just gave him a look and turned then away, going to examine Ochibot's computers. "But I must admit," the man went on, quite oblivious, "that I'm extremely pleased to meet you again this way. Not just because I'm happy to see… I mean, to hear that you are… uh, that you still are here, but also because I'm sure someone like you can be of much help to us. Surely you _will_ help us?"

He adjusted his glasses, giving a sharp look to the direction where he assumed Shindou to be. Touya wondered briefly if he should tell him that during his speech the boy had moved to stand behind his back, watching him over his shoulder. He decided not to, just to keep the peace.

_Yeah, sure,_ Shindou said to Ogata's ear. It took Touya a short moment to remember he had to speak for the boy.

"Yes," he said. "He'll help. How?"

"He's got one great asset: invisibility. Someone like him could easily infiltrate Kuwabara's house, and potentially find something that's useful for us."

Touya nodded, thoughtfully, but paused when he saw Shindou shaking his head. "Is there a problem?" he asked. Ogata, following his gaze, shot a confused glance behind himself. He looked back at Touya with a frown, but the boy decided to ignore that for now.

_Yeah_ , Shindou was saying. _I'm pretty sure I can't get far away from you._

"He's saying he can't get far away from me," Touya said to Ogata, whose frown deepened.

"How far can he go?"

Shindou shrugged. _Dunno. Let's see._

"He just left the room," Touya explained to the others. "He'll – oh, he's back."

"That was fast," Nase muttered.

Shindou, having suddenly just appeared in the room straight through a wall, was shaking his head. _No good. It was hard to even get out of this room._

Touya shook his head, and Ogata cursed.

"Language, Ogata-san," came Ochibot's dry voice. "I'm sure we can still use him."

"You have suggestions?"

"We have anyway been planning to send a group there. An invisible spy, even if he can't move far from the group, would still be useful."

"Possibly," Ogata agreed, "but that would require sending Akira-kun there as well. And I'm sure his father won't like the idea."

Touya was sure about that as well. In fact, he was pretty sure _he_ didn't like the idea. "Do you think you could somehow attach to someone else?" he asked Shindou.

_What, you already want to get rid of me?_ Shindou asked dryly. _No_ , he went on before Touya could say anything. _I don't think so. At least I don't have slightest idea how to do that. If it were possible, I'm sure S… eh, never mind. It's not possible._

"He can't," Touya said shortly.

Ogata sighed. "Well, you'd better try to come up with some other ways to use a ghost," he said to Ochibot. "Or find a way to get him attached to someone else. We need all help we can get."

"I'm already working on it," Ochibot stated.

"There's one good thing about this," Waya put in lightly. "We just need to know where Touya is to know where _he_ is. That way we can be sure he's not spying on us."

_As if I would,_ Shindou muttered to himself. _Tell him he's an idiot._

"Shindou wants me to tell you you're an idiot," Touya said with a sigh. He shrugged at the look Waya gave him. "Don't shoot the messenger."

"Well, you can tell him that so's he! Not even knowing where my manga is—"

"I don't need to tell him anything, he can hear you," Touya pointed out, and Waya blinked and blushed a little.

"Anyway, he…"

"If you're just going to be bickering, you can get out, Waya," Ogata cut him off. "We don't have time to waste, we need to figure out how this haunting thing works. In fact, everyone else can leave. Akira-kun, I need you and Shindou-kun stay here to tell Ochibot everything you know about your connection."

"I…" Touya said, with a hesitant glance at Shindou, who was watching him grimly.

_If they do find a way to separate us, I hope they'll also get us back together afterward._

Touya swallowed. True. If they were somehow separated, he would be just like the others were now, unable to either see or hear Shindou. That was enough for him to make his mind in the spot. "I," he repeated, but his voice broke. He cleared his throat. " _I_ ," he tried once more, now more firmly, "don't think this is necessary. I can do what needs to be done."

Ogata, who had sat down by a computer screen, reading something Ochibot had been showing him, turned to look at him with raised eyebrows.

"You said we're in a hurry," Touya went on, trying to sound convincing, "and Shindou sounds pretty certain when he says we can't be separated. So… wouldn't it be smarter not to waste time on useless research?"

_You can do it?_ Shindou said. _Seriously?_ You? _Invading the lair of zombies? Not a good idea._

_Shut up, Shindou._ "I know my parents won't _like_ it," he said aloud, "but I'm sure they would still approve. My father," he swallowed, suddenly feeling strangely sentimental, "he has always told me that the most important thing in life is not to shy away from your responsibilities. And if I have the power to help, then it is my responsibility to do that."

Ogata sighed. A moment he leaned back in his chair, eyes closed.

"You and Shindou-kun," he said then, "will tell us everything, absolutely _everything_ you know this haunting thing, so that Ochibot can analyze that information. After that you can go to sleep. And tomorrow," he looked at Waya, Isumi and Nase who had paused at the door when Touya started his little speech, "tomorrow, you three will start training him. Zombie fighting for dummies. Got it?"


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

_Just because_ , Touya thought glumly, _Ogata-san happened to use those words they don't_ need _to treat me as a dummy._

_I don't know,_ Shindou said. _I think zombie fighting for dummies is a class made for you._

Touya decided to let that comment pass by. "I did kill one zombie before you found me," he said aloud instead. "I'm not completely helpless, you know. …Shindou, _shut up_."

"We just want to be sure you've got all the basics right," Nase said a little apologetically, pausing from her explanation of how dangerous zombie bites were.

"How did you kill it?" Waya asked, curious.

"Hit it with a knife," Touya said flatly. "Right into an eye."

"Oh." The look Waya gave him was weird, almost respecting. Which, Touya thought to himself, was certainly weird enough in itself. _Was that all I ever had to do to gain that guy's respect? Kill a zombie?_

_His respect wouldn't be quite so high had he seen you doing it_ , Shindou stated, amused. _But don't worry, I can't exactly tell him what a stroke of luck it was that you hit_ anything _._

"…and as Waya-kun too hopefully remembers from now on," Nase was saying with a look at the boy, "any wounds, no matter how minor they are, must _immediately_ be treated, if there were zombies anywhere close by at the time of injury."

"A _scratch,_ " Waya muttered, but barely audibly. He sighed. "Yeah, I know, okay? It's just hard _not_ to feel like this is kind of overreacting…" He raised his hand, bandaged by Ichikawa. "But it's true," he said to Touya. "What happened to Nishi-san wasn't much more than this…"

"Let's move on," Isumi said, wincing, as if at an unpleasant memory. "I'm sure there is quite a lot we _can_ tell you."

That turned out to be true. After a three hours' intensive lecture of zombie behaviour and logic, the most effective ways to kill them, and the first symptoms of an infection and what to do if noticing them on yourself or your companion, Touya was feeling quite dizzy.

"Maybe we can have a break now," Isumi said, glancing at the clock. "We could eat something?" Touya agreed heartily.

Shindou was frowning. If he felt the effects of the overdose of information, he didn't show it. _I don't get how_ they _can be such zombie experts!_ he said. _I mean, this whole thing started_ yesterday _, didn't it?_

Touya blinked. "Good point," he muttered aloud. "How do you know so much?" he asked as they were making their way to the cafeteria of the place where he had had a very quick breakfast after having slept too long. "The whole apocalypse thing has been going on only for a day!"

"It's been going on for a lot longer," Isumi said gravely.

"They didn't exactly build this place in a day, either," Nase added.

"I was wondering about that," Touya said. "How long has this place been here?"

"Close to ten years, if I understood correctly," Isumi replied, and Touya's eyes widened.

"That long? But… why?"

"We don't really know why this place was originally built," Isumi said. "Top secret," Waya added dryly as they entered the cafeteria. Delicious smells reached Touya's nose, and he realized absentmindedly he was quite hungry.

"Anyway, the zombie threat started some four years ago," Nase said. "Though back then they didn't yet know it was a _zombie_ threat. Just that there was some kind of bioterrorism or something being planned. The first zombie sighting happened two and a half years ago, but even then no one really realized what was going on. I mean… zombies!" She gave a little laugh. "Who'd ever have believed something like that?"

"They should have recruited me earlier," Waya muttered. "I'd have known, seeing it!"

"Maybe," Isumi said, smiling a little. "But it was quite an early specimen. Nothing like any zombies we've seen after it." They settled down by a board with their food. Shindou gave a sad sigh in the back of Touya's mind.

_Raaaamen…_

_Shhh_ , Touya thought to him, his attention elsewhere.

"Yes, that first one… it probably was a mistake it was released so early. Or an experiment? Anyway, it wasn't yet infectious enough to start an epidemic."

"We were recruited a bit after that," Waya said, and Shindou frowned, doing the math.

"Why wasn't Shindou recruited?" Touya asked, knowing what the ghost was about to say.

The three glanced at each other. "Who knows," Waya shrugged. "But then again…" It was his turn to frown. "Probably the same reason you weren't. Shindou was just beginning to get properly going, you know. Riding on the top of that damn new wave. Maybe they didn't want to disturb his career." He poked his food, muttering something more.

_'Some of us are more precious than others,'_ Shindou said quietly, being clearly the only one who had heard what the boy had muttered. Touya blinked, and decided that it was probably less awkward to let that pass.

"I think Ogata-san wanted to have Shindou-kun, too," Nase said. "But your father," she looked at Touya, "was against it."

_I'm not exactly thankful,_ Shindou said. _I mean, if I'd been here…_

He left the sentence hanging, and Touya didn't want to finish it. Didn't want to think of it. "So you've been training here for… a couple of years?"

"Mmhm," Nase tilted her head a little, her mouth full of food. "They have," she said, having swallowed, and nodded toward the boys. "I've been here just for a year, when they first realized what kind of trouble we might be facing. You can consider yourself lucky," she added a bit dryly. "The pro exam was coming and I _know_ I would have passed it this time, and then they recruited me to a secret zombie-fighting organization! For a while that was all I could think about, and I blew the test."

_Yeah, I remember,_ Shindou said. _I was sure you'd pass!_

Touya ate a while in silence, concentrating on his food, his face completely expressionless. Then he lowered his chopsticks and looked up. His eyes met Isumi's, who was sitting opposite to him.

"If," he said slowly, "you have known about this threat for years, how could it get so bad, so quickly? Weren't you prepared? And why…" his voice shook a little, and he forced himself to be calm, "why didn't you protect Shindou and his family?"

The three shared again a look. Nase fidgeted a little. Waya dropped his eyes to the table, as Isumi turned back to Touya.

"We weren't," he said quietly. "Prepared, that is. Not for something this big, this soon. We were still analyzing the information we got from Ochi. It wasn't any simple thing to get all that could be saved out of him and into that computer, and then organize it and get everything functioning…"

"You mean this… Ochi… bot… is a new thing?" Touya asked.

Isumi nodded. "We knew something was up and sent a special team to Kuwabara's house about a couple of weeks ago. Others who went in were all killed. Ochi alone managed to get out, and he too was dead in a couple of days. Our scientists did what they could, and as fast as they could, but by the time Ochibot was functioning well enough for us to access his information, it was already too late."

"We tried to concentrate on those areas where the outbreak happened," Waya went on, still staring at the board, his food forgotten. "We had a plan how to contain it, and it _almost_ worked, but… it was too infectious. Just a few people got through, and that was enough. Shindou's father was one of them." Finally he looked up, facing Touya, his face nearly as void of all expression as the other boy's. "We didn't even know he was there! Shindou… lived far from the outbreak area. We didn't think he'd be in an immediate danger. But his father… got infected, hurried home, and by the time he was there, was already turned… And then there was that sudden new infection spreading close to where _you_ live..." He fell quiet, shaking his head.

There was a moment's silence. "In other words," Touya said then, "it was a complete mess-up."

"Yeah." Waya gave a wry, short-lived smile. "You could say that."

_So what's the plan now?_ Shindou asked, and Touya repeated that question.

"We need to find an antidote," Isumi said. "That's the only way for us to win." He leaned forward and dropped his voice into a whisper, though Touya really didn't know who could be eavesdropping them there. "We have one zombie captured. Our scientists are examining it. Hopefully they'll come up with something soon."

"But it's not that simple," Waya said, "We've been planning to send another team to Kuwabara's place. To find any possible clues. It really would be so handy if we could just send Shindou there…"

"He couldn't touch anything, if he went there alone," Touya pointed out. "All he'd be able to do is to listen what they talk about." He glanced at Shindou. "Besides, he says that he's afraid that if he somehow could separate from me, he would just disappear for good which wouldn't help anyone. And… are you sure there _is_ an antidote?" he asked after a short thought. "What if there isn't?"

"There better be!" Nase muttered.

"Apparently Kuwabara has been hinting about it," Isumi said. "He might be lying, of course…"

Touya frowned. "I still don't understand. _Why_ is Kuwabara doing something like this? Are you sure it's him?"

"Yes," all three said with one voice. "We've heard him talking about it," Nase added.

"Yeah," Waya said. "And why? Who knows! That man's just nuts, that's why. Doesn't he _look_ like he's some kind of a crazy evil scientist or something?"

Touya was quiet. Just a few days ago he had seen Kuwabara at the Ki'in and chatted a little with the old man. Who had sent his regards to his parents. And now… Shindou was dead because of him? If that was true…

…Kuwabara had better watch out.

"Who would be on that team?" he asked. "In addition to me and Shindou, that is?"

"Ogata-san decides that," Isumi said. "Though I guess we'd all want to be there."

Touya couldn't help smiling. "I guess you're all crazy, then."

"No less than you!" Nase said with a laugh. "So you're serious about doing this."

"Yes." Touya nodded firmly. "We're both, aren't we, Shindou?" he asked, looking at his companion who had been quiet for a long while.

_Sure…_ Shindou said, but it seemed like his thoughts were somewhere else. He was watching down at the table. _But, Touya…_

_Yes?_

_Aren't you ever going to finish that?! Your ramen is getting cold!_

"We're both very serious about this," Touya muttered to the others, starting to eat again, decidedly ignoring the ghost loudly complaining how unfair it was that others who didn't even know how to fully appreciate it could still eat ramen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit late (again), and it's got no action, just a lot of talking... oh well, we'll get on the move again in the next one. Life's turned sort of busy and I've not been able to write ahead, so the next chapter might take a couple of weeks, too. Hopefully no longer than that, but I've learned not to make any promises... >_> In any case, thank you for reading, and all comments are warmly appreciated.


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